Fighter aircraft streak in formation across the Paris sky; martial bands bring a tear to the patriotic eye; troops parade down the Champs Elysees in choreographed appeal to national pride. How fine, then, to be Jacques Chirac, president of France, and to take the salute on July 14th, the anniversary of that day in 1789 when angry Parisians stormed the Bastille prison and sparked off the revolution. What an opportunity to remind the nation of the republican ideals—liberty, equality and human rights—that France has ever since preached as universal. In short, with the next presidential election less than a year away, Bastille Day provides the perfect opportunity to look presidential, and therefore worthy to be re-elected.
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